Peaceful Living In A Not So Peaceful World

Peaceful Living In A

Not So Peaceful World

Preached:

Text: Galatians 5:22-23

Intro: Everyone seeks Peace in their life.

Illus: Two ladies were on the same train.

The two ladies were arguing constantly about whether the window should be open or shut.

• The lady farthest from the window argued that she would die of heat stroke if it wasn’t opened.

• The other said she would certainly catch pneumonia if it didn’t stay closed.

• When the ticket taker arrived the ladies asked him to come up with a solution.

• But unfortunately he didn’t have a solution.

• Finally the man spoke up. "First open the window. That will kill the one.

• Close the window. That will kill the other.

• Then we will have peace."

Everyone is seeking to having peace in their life…

Illus: Some of you may remember a young lady by the name of Tracy Lyperd.

The reason I mentioned you might know her was because she was a beauty queen contest in VA. She was all smiles as she wore her crown.

But when we read of her in the newspaper again, she no longer had a smile on her face because she was in some serious trouble with the law.

Her boy friend had dumped her and married another woman.

She drove 250 miles to seek revenge. She took along a pistol, a hammer, lighter fluid and matches.

When she arrived at his house and rang the doorbell, it was answered by ex-boyfriend’s new father-in-law.

She faked having car trouble, and asked if she could use the telephone. Once inside the house, she took out her hammer and hit the father-in-law on the head. She stunned him, but didn’t knock him out.

What she didn’t realize was that he was an ex-secret service agent.

He grabbed her and as they struggled, she pulled the pistol from her purse and tried to shoot him. That’s when the mother-in-law jumped in to assist in the apprehension and the two of them wrestled her to the floor, holding her until the police arrived.

When questioned, she said that she was driven to seek revenge because she needed "INNER PEACE."

People do all kinds of ridiculous things seeking for peace in their life!!!

There are two places we can turn to find peace…

The Bible teaches that there is a peace that the lost world provides.

That is, the world in which we live provides a certain kind of peace.

Illus: We can see that in the life of men like Bill Gates, and Ted Turner, men who are not Christians, but everything is going well in their lives and they are experiencing a peace that the world provides.

Many believe if they can get all the money they need they can have peace that the world can provide.

For example, if they were rich and they need a car they will purchase the most expensive car on the market. And for the next six months they have a peace that the world provides that will last maybe for the next six months until they need another car because they are tired of the car they got six months ago.

• It is no mystery why these men can walk around experiencing the peace that the world provides.

• However, it is a great mystery how some can have PEACE when things are not going well with them and they have peace.

I. THEY HAVE THE PEACE THAT COMES FROM GOD.

Let me illustrate…

Illus: A man by the name of Horatio Gates Spafford, was a Christian attorney that lived in Chicago and went through some very difficult times in his life.

He was in the Chicago fire of 1871 where over a hundred thousand were left homeless, and over 300 died.

Spafford, for two years, unselfishly helped to assist the needs of the homeless, impoverished, and those grief-stricken by the fire.

Horatio G. Spafford was known throughout Chicago as a sincere, devout Christian.

After two years of such work, in November 1873, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation to London, England.

He wanted to do two things on this particular vacation:

• Join his good friend Dwight L. Moody in one of his evangelistic campaigns in England.

• From there Mr. Spafford planned on traveling on to Europe.

However, just as the Spafford’s were preparing to leave, Horatio was unexpectedly detained by urgent business concerns in Chicago.

The decision was made that his wife Anna and their daughters – Anna (Annie), Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta would continue on as scheduled to England.

Once Spafford had resolved the business concern, he would then catch up with them on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The ship, the S.S. Ville du Harve, which his wife and daughters were traveling on, never reached England. Off Newfoundland, the ship collided with an English sailing vessel, the Loch Earn. The ship sank rapidly, approximately within 20 minutes after it was struck.